DESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Pagehttp://descentintolight.com
Homepage of author and editor Mike AllenTue, 04 Dec 2018 17:29:56 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.12http://descentintolight.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/cropped-silly-32x32.jpgDESCENT INTO LIGHT: Mike Allen’s Home Pagehttp://descentintolight.com
3232125826686UPDATERY: upcoming short stories and poemshttp://descentintolight.com/2018/11/25/updatery-upcoming-short-stories-and-poems/
http://descentintolight.com/2018/11/25/updatery-upcoming-short-stories-and-poems/#respondSun, 25 Nov 2018 23:39:27 +0000http://descentintolight.com/?p=4202I’ve been saving up for this updatery for several months, while the main action in my creative life happened over on the publication stage, the biggest news there being the publication of Nicole Kornher-Stace’s new novel Latchkey. (You really ought to check it out if you haven’t, it’s excellent.)

A good deal of my own writerly activities in 2018 have essentially turned out to be jockeying for position with projects that will all (hopefully!!) come to fruition in 2019.

So here’s what’s in queue.

First up, one that might still appear in 2018. My science fiction/horror hybrid “Aftermath of an Industrial Accident” is part of the Dark Regions Press anthology Transmissions from Punktown, edited by Brian Sammons, based on the intergalactic noir “Punktown” stories of Jeffery Thomas. Dark Regions just completed a massively successful Kickstarter campaign that included funding to add a signed, lettered hardcover edition of this book to the already-planned paperbacks and e-books.

Transmissions from Punktown was included in all the Kickstarter reward levels and Dark Regions has posted pre-order links here. The delicious cover art comes from horror maestro Aeron Alfrey. Behold!

Second, my horror tale “The Sun Saw” is part of the Chaosium anthology The Leaves of a Necronomicon, edited by dark master Joseph Pulver and one of the cornerstones of Chaosium’s planned reboot of its fiction line. “The Sun Saw” recounts unfortunate events that befall a Korean War veteran named John Hairston, a character who has stuck with me, as he’s turned up in stories I’ve written since.

Originally this book was going to be released this month, but publishing can be like the movies, and some production snags have caused delays. And, you know, distributing leaves from a Necronomicon must be done with caution.

Third, my goodness, I have a new short story sale to announce! My brand spanking new horror tale “With Shining Gifts That Took All Eyes” has sold to editor-publisher Scott Dwyer of Plutonian Press for his new anthology Pluto in Furs, scheduled for release in 2019. In case you’re wondering, yes, the title plays on Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s novella Venus in Furs.

I’m pleased to be working with Scott again. My horror story “Binding” was included in Plutonian’s first anthology, Phantasm/Chimera.

Fourth, another story, titled “nolens volens,” featuring my recurring protagonist John Hairston, has sold to a project scheduled for release in 2019. At the moment, that’s all I’m allowed to disclose. More to share when I can.

Poetry-wise, the situation is similar. I finished three new poems in 2018, all in collaboration with S. Brackett Roberston. Two of those poems have sold and are booked for 2019 debuts. They are:

P.S.: To my knowledge, no one has successfully guessed the proper order of authors for “A Game of Lost and Found,” an exquisite corpse story that I participated in for Lackington’s magazine along with Vajra Chandrasekera, Amal El-Mohtar, Natalia Theodoridou, and JY Yang. I am certain this is because Amal and I have indistinguishable writing styles. Do consider purchasing the issue and trying your hand at the game.

#SFWApro

]]>http://descentintolight.com/2018/11/25/updatery-upcoming-short-stories-and-poems/feed/04202“The Blessed Days” return via KALEIDOCAST + a #ShareYourRejections talehttp://descentintolight.com/2018/08/21/the-blessed-days-return-via-kaleidocast-a-shareyourrejections-tale/
http://descentintolight.com/2018/08/21/the-blessed-days-return-via-kaleidocast-a-shareyourrejections-tale/#respondWed, 22 Aug 2018 01:44:35 +0000http://descentintolight.com/?p=4189“The Blessed Days” are here again. And if you’re familiar with this story of mine, you know that doesn’t herald joyous times to come, unless you’ve got a hankering for the end of all humanity. [Insert evil cackle here.]

I’m absolutely overjoyed, on the other hand, to have a new adaptation of this blood-soaked horror tale available to share with the world. This new manifestation comes courtesy of the folks at Kaleidocast — today they’re re-released “The Blessed Days” as part of episode four of their second season of podcasts, paired with “Unleashed Beauty” by Nancy Hightower.

I’m grateful to be part of this project, and I want to note there’s plenty more where this came from. Kaleidocast Season 2 launched with a story by three-time Hugo Award winner N.K. Jemisin, and also showcases stories from Carlos Hernandez, Marcy Arlin and ZigZag Claybourne; Season 1, released in 2016, has work by Jonathan Lethem, Richard Bowes, Tim Pratt, Amal El-Mohtar and more (not to mention an adaptation of “Squeeze” by Rob Cameron from Clockwork Phoenix 5.)

I got a chance to share the opening of “The Blessed Days,” and other Season 2 writers shared snippets from their work. (Then we went to Mimi Mondal’s birthday party on the hotel patio and had cake!)

“The Blessed Days” had a long road to publication. In a way the story is my attempt to channel the queasy emotions I’ve dealt with as a journalist when covering horrific large-scale tragedies. When I first attempted the story, I didn’t quite have the skill to pull it off. (In the spirit of #ShareYourRejections, one publisher I sent it to told me they that they found nothing whatsoever in the story related to my stated aim, though not put quite as politely as that.)

I kept revising it, until I got an acceptance (from David Lee Summers of the late lamented Tales of the Talisman) — and did even more rewrites before David went to press in 2009. I continued to tinker with “The Blessed Days” as it was reprinted a couple more times, and rewrote it again before it appeared in my collection Unseaming, incorporating suggestions volunteered by none other than Thomas Ligotti.

Worth noting, perhaps: I didn’t rewrite this story again for Kaleidocast. The way this worked: they read through several of my stories and chose that one to adapt. I’m honored they found it worthy. (And honored they went through all that effort in the first place!)

#SFWApro

]]>http://descentintolight.com/2018/08/21/the-blessed-days-return-via-kaleidocast-a-shareyourrejections-tale/feed/04189My Readercon schedule & a new edition of STRANGE WISDOMS OF THE DEADhttp://descentintolight.com/2018/07/09/my-readercon-schedule-a-new-edition-of-strange-wisdoms-of-the-dead/
http://descentintolight.com/2018/07/09/my-readercon-schedule-a-new-edition-of-strange-wisdoms-of-the-dead/#respondMon, 09 Jul 2018 14:00:52 +0000http://descentintolight.com/?p=4163There’s two big events on my horizon this week. The first is the online release of Nicole Kornher-Stace’s novel Latchkey, which happens Tuesday. The second thing is: Readercon!

As I noted over at the Mythic Delirium blog, Anita and I will be running a Mythic Delirium Books table in the Readercon bookshop this coming weekend. It’s the first time we’ve ever done this.

Most of the time, Anita and I will be sitting behind our table, but I do have some programming events: a panel Thursday evening, and two group readings on Saturday. Here’s how that breaks down:

Thursday, 8:00 PMWriters Who Edit, Editors Who Write • Mike Allen,Scott Edelman, John Edward Lawson, Mimi Mondal, Julia Rios, Sabrina Vourvoulias • Salon 5
Those who edit as a full-time job rarely do much writing on the side, but many full-time writers bolster their incomes through editing. Why does this equation seem to function better in one direction than the other? How do writers who edit avoid the pitfalls experienced by editors who write? What can be done to address an ever-widening taste gap, and the tendency to self-edit into the ground?

Generally, I’ll be easy to spot, as Anita has recreated the Purple Hat I used to wear to cons (the original mysteriously vanished years ago.) By all means, if you’re at or near Readercon this coming week, come say hello!

And since I mentioned it above, a little more detail: there’s a new paperback edition of my first book-length poetry (and fiction!) collection, Strange Wisdoms of the Dead. The quietly eerie cover art was derived from Johan Christian Dahl’s “View from Vaekero near Christiania,” painted in 1827, and it’s intended as an illustration of the horror story I co-wrote with fellow Roanoke, Va., writer Charles M. Saplak that concludes the volume and gives the book its title. In terms of content, it is, other than some minor updates to things like bios and book lists, essentially identical to the original released by Wildside Press in 2006.

This version, released through the Mythic Delirium Books, exists mainly so that I could start hand-selling copies of it again — it was the one remaining major collection of my writing for which I couldn’t easily print additional copies. Now that’s fixed.

]]>http://descentintolight.com/2018/07/09/my-readercon-schedule-a-new-edition-of-strange-wisdoms-of-the-dead/feed/04163An interview at POSTSCRIPTS TO DARKNESS, a reprinted story & poem, a new poem salehttp://descentintolight.com/2018/06/10/an-interview-at-postscripts-to-darkness-a-reprinted-story-poem-a-new-poem-sale/
http://descentintolight.com/2018/06/10/an-interview-at-postscripts-to-darkness-a-reprinted-story-poem-a-new-poem-sale/#commentsSun, 10 Jun 2018 23:45:23 +0000http://descentintolight.com/?p=4150The past few weeks I’ve been occupied with getting Latchkey by Nicole Kornher-Stace ready for the book’s premiere at Readercon in July. (I couldn’t be prouder that Nicole’s novel received a starred review for Kirkus Reviews — the first time a Mythic Delirium Book has appeared in Kirkus, too!)

While I’ve been doing that, a few things have happened on the writing front that I wanted so share.

Sean Moreland’s Postscripts to Darkness has reprinted a horror story of mine, “Tardigrade,” that was first published in 2014 in the limited edition hardcover anthology A Darke Phantastique, edited by Jason V. Brock. It’s one of my most gruesome and most experimental horror stories, and I’m grateful PstD chose to share it more widely.

Here’s the opening hook:

Gunshots in the dark. One, two, three, four, five.

In the abyss, a flatscreen monitor lights, as if awakened by the noise.

From the computer, loud chimes play “Turkey in the Straw” as a creature dances on the monitor, a bear-like thing with chitin for skin and a circular sucking mouth in place of a face. Needles protrude and retract from the orifice in time with the music.

The interview covers the full range of my fiction, poetry, and editing, and goes deep into where my major stylistic quirks come from. I also expound a bit more on the recent closing of Mythic Delirium magazine. Here’s part of my response to a complex, multi-paragraph question about why all my writing contains elements of body horror regardless of genre:

My father taught biology at the University of Guam and later at Clinch Valley College in Wise, and I remember, on visiting his offices and classrooms, being fascinated by the large plastic anatomy models — you could open them and remove the internal organs, the pieces of the brain, the eyes, you could open the heart up and look inside it. Also all the strange creatures from many phyla floating in formaldehyde, and the even weirder invertebrates described in textbooks. I never did get to see the biology department’s cadaver, but I knew it was there inside its coffin-shaped tank. Somehow, though, none of these things ever scared me the way Poe or Lovecraft did.

And yet, I would have these astonishing nightmares, incredibly vivid, where streets would be lined with veins and intestines and people would suffer gory fates worthy of the grossest splatter films — which I had never watched! As a kid, when something too scary came on the television, I’d flee the room. Those dreams, I’m certain, guide my aesthetic as an adult.

Finally, PstD reprinted my poem “Dearly Beloved,” which first appeared in print in Postscripts to Darkness 5 in 2014, acquired by poetry editor Dominik Parisien, and was later nominated for a Rhysling Award. It’s set in the same far-future sf milieu as my short stories “Twa Sisters” and “Still Life Wife Skull,” both of which are reprinted in The Spider Tapestries.

andante maestoso
Long before the partiers arrive, the Arborists
form the ballroom, standing in a dolmen circle,
stretching their many arms until vine-fingers
meet and entwine, bloodflow causing all
their leaves to fan out in rosy canopy,
transparent teeth unsheathed in long smiles
that serve for windows.

Last but hardly least, a new poem I’ve written in collaboration with S. Brackett Robertson, “shore skin,” has sold to John Benson at Not One of Us. This is the first poem I’ve written in at least two years, maybe longer, so it’s thrilling to have it find a home so quickly. More are coming, all in collaboration with Sally Brackett, so far.

That catches me up. Anita and I (obviously) are planning to be at Readercon next month, hope to see folks there!

#SFWApro

]]>http://descentintolight.com/2018/06/10/an-interview-at-postscripts-to-darkness-a-reprinted-story-poem-a-new-poem-sale/feed/24150Second story publication of 2018http://descentintolight.com/2018/05/21/second-story-publication-of-2018/
http://descentintolight.com/2018/05/21/second-story-publication-of-2018/#respondMon, 21 May 2018 14:00:04 +0000http://descentintolight.com/?p=4122My second published story in 2018, just like my first, is a form of exquisite corpse! I am nonplussed but also tickled. The joke in journalistic circles is that if something happens three times, you can call it a trend, though I’ve not been invited to participate in a third exquisite corpse, thus no trend yet, heh.

Also, like “It Began in Red Hook,” this new story, “A Game of Lost and Found,” is only available “behind a paywall,” as the kids say these days. Though it’s an old-fashioned kind of paywall, raised in support of a very worthy cause.

“A Game of Lost and Found” was orchestrated by Ranylt Richildis, editor of Lackington’s, as a bonus feature available only to subscribers or to readers who purchase the newest issue of her zine, the “Gothics” issue, released last week. My collaborators in Gothic mischief were Vajra Chandrasekera, Amal El-Mohtar, Natalia Theodoridou and JY Yang.

Amal came up with the story’s title, and it’s a perfect title. It’s also startling how smoothly this Gothic AF Frankenstein’s monster of a tale fits together, which makes the following contest pretty challenging.

Ranylt is offering a chance to win the entirety of Lackington’s back issue archive to those who can successfully guess which writer wrote which section of “A Game of Lost and Found.” To play, you have to subscribe, a mere $9.99 for four issues, or purchase the issue itself, a mere $2.99.

To further whet your appetite, here’s the full table of contents:

“A Thousand Tongues of Silver” by Kate Heartfield

“Satia Te Sanguine” by A.J. Hammer

“Letters Written to the Dearest Deceased Frances Blood” by R.M. Graves

“Nothing Must Be Wasted” by Arkady Martine

“Swans and Roses and Snow” by Laura Friis

“At the Hand of Every Beast” by Premee Mohamed

“Verwelktag” by Steve Toase

“Cavity in a Hurt” by J.M. Guzman

“A Game of Lost and Found” by Mike Allen, Vajra Chandrasekera, Amal El-Mohtar, Natalia Theodoridou, and JY Yang

I do have other stories in the pipeline that are not exquisite corpses, I swear. I’ve signed contracts for them and in some cases I’ve even been paid for them. However, the question as to whether or not any of them will appear in 2018 is going to be answered by forces completely outside my control. So if you’re tempted to hold out, by all means, just give in and buy this magazine issue instead. You won’t regret it.

#SFWApro

]]>http://descentintolight.com/2018/05/21/second-story-publication-of-2018/feed/04122Honoring National Poetry Month the lazy wayhttp://descentintolight.com/2018/04/15/honoring-national-poetry-month-the-lazy-way/
http://descentintolight.com/2018/04/15/honoring-national-poetry-month-the-lazy-way/#commentsSun, 15 Apr 2018 18:30:12 +0000http://descentintolight.com/?p=4098It’s been in the back of my mind since April Fool’s Day that it might be neat to do a National Poetry Month tribute, even though the course of my writing has veered well away from poetry in recent years. I certainly wasn’t going to create anything new for it.

But this weekend I remembered, I actually launched this incarnation of my longtime homepage in 2011 with a really elaborate poetry month tribute. Operating under the theory that it’s become old enough to be new again, I present thirteen poems from my 2008 collection The Journey to Kailash, with illustrations, detailed explanatory notes and even audio of me reciting each poem (you’ll have to activate Flash plug-ins to listen to those). And below the links to the main show I’ve included a bonus, my concrete poem “Phase Shift” from which this blog gets its name. Originally published in Tales of the Unanticipated in 1997, “Phase Shift” appears in my collection Hungry Constellations, but this stunning visualization by artist Bob Freeman appears nowhere else but here.

]]>http://descentintolight.com/2018/04/15/honoring-national-poetry-month-the-lazy-way/feed/14098First story publication of 2018http://descentintolight.com/2018/02/07/first-story-publication-of-2018/
http://descentintolight.com/2018/02/07/first-story-publication-of-2018/#commentsThu, 08 Feb 2018 00:43:03 +0000http://descentintolight.com/?p=4082I wanted to acknowledge that I’ve had a new tidbit of fiction appear, and that it’s quite a bit different from anything I’ve had pop out before.

First, it’s part of an ensemble piece, written for what the publishers called a “screaming corpse.” That’s not a literal corpse, believe it or not, but a type of “exquisite corpse.” In your standard “exquisite corpse” exercise, the writer of each new section is allowed to read only the previous section, so that the final product comes out disjointed and surreal. (With this particular story, the contributors were allowed to cheat, and read all the preceding installments, though things got pretty surreal anyway.) The requirement to turn an “exquisite corpse” into a “screaming corpse”? Every writer had to incorporate the phrase “And then the murders began” into their section.

Second, you only get to read this story if you backed The Kaleidocast: Season Two Kickstarter. The story was released to backers on Jan. 19. An audio adaptation by C.S.E. Cooney is forthcoming — also available only to backers.

The story (really, it’s a novelette) is called “It Began in Red Hook.” Lovecraftian reference? Wouldn’t you like to know…

Illustration by Fred Stesney

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]]>http://descentintolight.com/2018/02/07/first-story-publication-of-2018/feed/14082Ye Olde Year’s End Wrap Uphttp://descentintolight.com/2017/12/31/ye-olde-years-end-wrap-up/
http://descentintolight.com/2017/12/31/ye-olde-years-end-wrap-up/#respondSun, 31 Dec 2017 15:10:45 +0000http://descentintolight.com/?p=4049Writing-career wise, 2017 was a deceptively quiet year for me, with a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes but not a lot to show for it publicly. With 2014, 2015 and 2016 being as lively as they were, I concede that a lull was inevitable.

But I didn’t fall altogether silent. These things happened:

Me at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki after swiping Ian Watson’s Staff of Cthulhu. Photo by Anita

My novella “The Quiltmaker” was reprinted in the January issue of Apex Magazine.

In March, I want to the first ever Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird in Atlanta, Georgia, a wonderful event where, among other things, I read excerpts from my short stories “Her Acres of Pastoral Playground” and “The Cruelest Team Will Win.” You can listen to that here.

In August, Anita and I celebrated our 25th anniversary with a trip to Finland and Iceland that not at all coincidentally included attending Worldcon 75 in Helsinki. (I wrote about some aspects of the trip here.) The Hugo Award ceremony was particularly spectacular, and I had the honor of speaking on the “Remembering Tanith Lee” panel about Tanith’s contributions to the Clockwork Phoenix series.

Most of my writing efforts went into completing an extensive revision of my novel Trail of Shadows, an expansion of my short story “The Hiker’s Tale.” The manuscript is still out on submission. Then I wrote two drafts of “The Comforter,” a novella-length sequel to my stories “The Button Bin” and “The Quiltmaker” (that also pulls in my story “Gutter” and a couple others that haven’t been published yet). I am in fact switching back and forth between revising “The Comforter” and typing this blog entry.

Here’s hoping that playing the long game pays off in 2018. Cheers!

#SFWApro

]]>http://descentintolight.com/2017/12/31/ye-olde-years-end-wrap-up/feed/04049LOCUS MAGAZINE interview!http://descentintolight.com/2017/12/04/locus-magazine-interview/
http://descentintolight.com/2017/12/04/locus-magazine-interview/#respondMon, 04 Dec 2017 23:05:12 +0000http://descentintolight.com/?p=4023The December issue of Locus: The Magazine of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Field is now in stores, and it contains something that’s, from my perspective, very unusual: a 4,600-word interview with me! New York Times-bestselling, multiple-award winning author Seanan McGuire is the headliner, as she damn well should be, and I’m like the opening act or the B-picture, take your pick. I’m super-flattered Locus editor-in-chief Liza Trombi found my oddball career worthy of that many column inches; Liza herself interviewed me via Skype.

The topics we covered include my collections Unseaming and The Spider Tapestries, moonlighting as a poet, my largely unknown novel The Black Fire Concerto, the childhood things that brought me in contact with science fiction, fantasy and horror, my problems with night terrors, the truly weird thing that happened that turned me into an editor when I’d never planned on becoming one, finding myself hailed as a writer of the Weird, the awesome time I had in March at The Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird, and more.

]]>http://descentintolight.com/2017/12/04/locus-magazine-interview/feed/04023New poem in STAR*LINE; new review in RUE MORGUEhttp://descentintolight.com/2017/11/20/new-poem-in-starline-new-review-in-rue-morgue/
http://descentintolight.com/2017/11/20/new-poem-in-starline-new-review-in-rue-morgue/#respondMon, 20 Nov 2017 14:00:44 +0000http://descentintolight.com/?p=4002So this was a surprise. I’d thought my poem “The Headless Hero” in the October issue of Dreams & Nightmares was going to be my last published poem for a while. But then a poem I had sent to Star*Line came out in the Fall 2017 issue just a month after I received a letter from the new editor expressing interest, thus proving my pronouncement about “The Headless Hero” greatly exaggerated.

“Draught” is a nightmarish rendition of a game of checkers. I wrote it some time back, I’m not quite sure what inspired it, whether it was a literal nightmare or a random musing.

My story “Binding” is one of the works highlighted in Dejan Ognjanovic’s review, accurately described as “an urban legend told among students about the sinister campus library.” Also highlighted: tales by Brian Evenson, Clint Smith, Livia Llewellyn, Christopher Slatsky, Matthew M. Bartlett and Jason A. Wyckoff. Ognjanovic writes, “Don’t let this small press [anthology] fall under your radar.”

It’s a pleasure to get a mention again in the pages of Rue Morgue, which published a flattering review of my horror collection Unseaming back in 2015.